MEFMI has made substantial progress in building the capacity of both Users and IT administrators of the Debt Management and Financial Analysis System (DMFAS). The system was developed by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). However, a recurring challenge faced by member countries has been the retention of appropriately trained staff in debt management offices.
Zimbabwe is one of the MEFMI member countries that continues to receive technical assistance for its staff in the Public Debt Management Office (PDMO). In the first half of 2021, the PDMO engaged three (3) new DMFAS Debt Database Administrators to support the business side of the system. The newly recruited staff had no prior formal technical training to enable them to effectively perform all their tasks and operations relating to DMFAS debt database administration.
As part of support to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development’s effort to close this capacity gap, MEFMI trained the newly recruited staff on the procedures for installing and maintaining the DMFAS debt database. This is a part of MEFMI’s support to member countries’ efforts to build comprehensive public debt databases and enhance transparency and accountability in the management of public debt. The financial support for this activity was provided by the Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) Africa.
The knowledge acquired is expected to enable participants to effectively support the business side of the system, and thus making the DMFAS a secure and stable repository of public debt information. Ultimately, this will ensure the availability of a consolidated and up-to-date government debt database that facilitates the timely retrieval of statistics to inform policy analysis and strategy formulation.
Source: Mefmi